It’s a tale as old as time, the man tries to destroy his accuser, and the woman has a hard time proving it, even if it is true. But Dr. Billie Sutton does have proof, but will she use it?
We knew somehow the Lt. Governor Beaumont (Raphael Sbarge) would leak Billie’s (Jessica Lucas) name. This is a TV show, after all, but I’m sure it happens all the time in real life too. I just can’t believe that the lt governor dropped Dr. Randolph Bell (Bruce Greenwood) from the running when the other doctor had multiple ethical complaints and an accusation of rapping a 13-year-old. He says the optics are not good for them, with Bell getting a recommendation from Billie. Well, are they good when their other candidate has an accusation of rape? And not just rape, rapping a minor.
This storyline has been heartbreaking since the beginning. With how The Resident has been on the bubble, was this a long-term plan from the writers or are they making it up season by season? It feels planned and thought out.
Last week Sutton spoke in front of the board, but sadly we didn’t see her speak. This week the lt governor tells Bell they have to drop him because the optics are not good. Then, Dr. Kit Voss (Jane Leeves) is forced to disclose to Bell the reason. And it looks like next week, Billie will be confiding in Dr. Conrad Hawkins (Matt Czuchry). Almost everyone knows.
I was nervous about her coming forward last week because we knew there would be backlash. But now, the scumbag Dr. Robert Porter (Scott Cohen) has threatened to expose all of her secrets. Okay, yeah, she’s not perfect, but what he did is worse. And the promo says they remember it differently. SHE WAS 13! Even if she was somehow into it back then or he thought she was, she was a child. He was the adult. The blame lies entirely on him.
This is not the first time I’ve seen this storyline done, but it may be the first time it was a minor. That just brings an extra level of horror to it. We’ve gotten to see some of the horrors from Billie — through the scenes of her telling Dr. Nic Nevin (Emily VanCamp) of her rape and the child she gave up for adoption. Then, Dr. AJ Austin (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) found out too, and she had to explain what happened. None of those times got any easier for her. Let alone telling Kit.
Not that I want Billie to relive any more of that trauma, though Jessica is excellent when she’s in those scenes. But I want to dig deeper. We see a lot of it on Jessica’s face, but can we talk about it? She’s buried it for so long. But as we saw at the beginning of this season, she’s clearly gone through therapy because she’s setting up those boundaries. Has she worked on this? There just feels like there is so much untapped potential here.
And then there’s Trevor Daniels (Miles Fowler), her son. The writers seem to be setting it up, so she tells him the truth and uses his DNA to prove it to the medical board. But as she says, that could bring unreputable trauma to him. Does she have any other choice at this point? The writers aren’t going to have her lose her career after they had her overcome so much, right?
I don’t think so. The Resident writers didn’t bring Trevor to Chastain so that Billie could do something good for her son. Maybe after the fallout, it won’t be so bad. He will understand why she kept it from him and why she gave him up. Perhaps then they can both move on and even have some type of relationship.
But first, Billie must stand up against Porter. I was not ready for where this storyline was going, but Jessica has been excellent every step of the way?
Do you think Billie will tell Trevor the truth and use his DNA? Tweet me @PrimetimeDrama or @MandyTTCarr or comment below.
